Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, I will be sharing my time with Mr. Nicholls.
I appreciate your being here today, Mr. Oliver. As you know, ministerial responsibility means answering questions, even embarrassing questions. I certainly hope Conservatives will allow the opposition members to ask those important questions today.
I'm struck by the allocation in the supplementary estimates of nearly $77 million going to AECL. As you remember, Mr. Oliver, very controversially last year the government sold off hundreds of millions of dollars in assets from AECL for the amount of $15 million. It was called a fire sale at the time. It was called a sweetheart deal. Even greater was the outrage and concern when it was learned just a few weeks later that AECL had actually negotiated an additional contract for $440 million that was part of this sweetheart package.
I note that in your presentation you mentioned a commitment to fiscal responsibility. Here we have a fire sale of government assets, where hundreds of millions of dollars of assets and a $440 million contract are sold off for $15 million. It would be like my saying I'm going to buy your car for $100, but you give me the car and $10,000 back. I think the public understands that was just a poorly negotiated, sweetheart, fire-sale deal.
My question for you is this. Is the $77 million serving to sweeten the pot for subsequent sales, or is that money that is being transferred to the buyer of AECL assets for $15 million?